Looking inside the bag, I see beautiful long twisted leaves (and this is the small leaf cultivar! lol). So right from the start I decided this was a tea for the gaiwan, because it’s my favourite way (besides glass teapots/mugs) to admire tea leaves.

First sip, suddenly reminded of another Taiwanese tea I’ve tried (Hualien Feng Mi), except this is not as roasted. Then I’m picking up on a menthol/minty like flavour that I’ve heard about before with this sort of tea. There is also this soft malt flavour, but it’s not a “in your face” type of maltiness, it’s more like Ovaltine drink. It has a very smooth texture from the initial sip and an almost fuzzy, chocolatey, velvet aftertaste.

Second steep I’m picking up more of a honey flavour, with the other notes becoming more muted. Same fuzzy, chocolatey, velvet aftertaste (but muted).

At this point I examined the leaves before trying a third steep. The wet leaf is long, thin and has a hard leathery feel to it.

Third and final steep is a bit too muted for my liking. Still picking up notes of honey and malt. Enjoyable, but it can’t compare to the experience from my first steep.

This came along with a Red Jade sampler, so I can’t wait to try that as well. Also I’ll be playing around with the rating by the time I go through this bag (score might go up). So far I’m very fond of it, just not sure if I’ll become smitten by the last teaspoon. ;)

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I don’t log tea every time I drink it. Tasting notes tend to be about either one style of brewing or a new experience. It is helpful for me to look back on my notes and see what a tea tasted like or which steeping parameter worked best for me. I try to mostly short steep tea unless it only tastes better with a long steep. I’d rather experience what a tea tastes like over 3 or 12 steeps than just 1 to 3 long steeps.

When I write “tsp”, the measurement I use is a regular western teaspoon. Not a tea scoop

How I rate tea:

99-100: Teas that blow my mind! An unforgettable experience. Savoured to the last drop. I felt privileged to drink this.

90-98: Extraordinary, highly recommended, try it and you won’t be disappointed (and if you are, mail me the tea!)